A new initiative has been launched at the University of New Mexico's Center for Participatory Research to test engagement strategies aimed at fostering more reliable academic institutions and enhancing diversity and community leadership in research. The project, known as Engage for Equity (E2) PLUS, is being spearheaded by Distinguished Professor and Director for Participatory Research Nina Wallerstein, along with Associate Director Shannon Sanchez-Youngman.
The E2 PLUS project seeks to alter policies, practices, and norms within Academic Health Centers to bolster commitment and resources towards patient and community-engaged research. Eight institutions across the country will collaborate in this endeavor, including the University of New Mexico. This partnership aims to foster a Community of Practice among engaged universities and their partners to continue transforming research methodologies.
The E2 PLUS study will form teams co-led by an academic and a patient or community partner. These teams will consist of community leaders, patient leaders, researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders. Funded by a $2 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), this expanded project builds on 18 years of identifying optimal community-based participatory research practices at both project and partnership levels.
Running from September 2024 through 2027, the project will test strategies designed to increase patient and community leadership in research while developing necessary academic infrastructures to support these efforts. At UNM, this PCORI award will also aid UNM’s reapplication to the Carnegie Foundation in 2025 for renewal of its classification as an Engaged University.
The study team plans to form champion teams composed similarly to those mentioned earlier. These teams will receive coaching from the study team along with several workshops using E2 Tools intended for a broader set of stakeholders. Half of these workshop participants will be patient and community members with an emphasis on underserved diverse populations.
“The goals of the workshops are twofold,” said Wallerstein. “The first is to create working groups with champion teams, to advocate to the top leadership of these institutions to improve their practices and policies that support community and patient-centeredness of research.” These practices could include improved financial arrangements for community and patient advocate partners, new IRB ethics processes that enhance benefits to communities and patients, and mutual training to support capacity building among all stakeholders.
“Second, the study team will form separate community and patient action groups,” Wallerstein added. The goals of these groups are to expand the reach of the Academic Health Center to additional patient and community networks in order to increase diversity among external organizations capable of collaborating on and leading research based on their own priorities.
The E2 PLUS Engagement Methods focus on deep participation from patients and community members, enhancing their decision-making power within academic health centers. This approach aims at promoting patient and community leadership in research.
The findings from the Engage for Equity (E2) PLUS project will inform best institutional and community-driven practices across the country for increasing research power of patients and communities with an ultimate goal of improved health equity.
For more information, visit Engage for Equity (E2) PLUS.
